Woody Allen: A Documentary

A standard documentary about Woody Allen's life. We follow him through his time as stand-up comedian all the way to Midnight in Paris, with the supplemental commentaries from his friends and his colleagues. It's all fun and dandy, but by god it's boring to sit and watch a documentary without any ambition at all. And the structure where they discuss his films is clumsy. Was great to know that Allen didn't particularly like Manhatten; who likes flaubert anyway?

Impossible to dislike, Allen's prolific career is without controversy (apart from that one thing) and this doco simply focuses on his work, which is pretty much an inspiration to watch. It doesn't hurt that Allen has still retained his sardonic humour in person and he conveys that through his modern-day segments explaining his craft, with his last line in this doco striking as particularly memorable and existentially amusing.

Can't wait for him to die so we can get the honest version.

An affectionate look at Woody's career and life, almost too affectionate. Perfect for someone like me, a huge fan, but not if you don't really know much about the man. The last line really sums up his life perfectly: "everything I've ever wanted to accomplish I did, from becoming a movie star to playing jazz in New Orleans. So why do I feel I somehow got screwed?"

Those familiar with the filmmaker and his work will not learn much new, and some of the cinema scholars really don't add much of anything, but it is always very enjoyable listening to Woody speak about his ideas, his films, his methods, and his life. Scorsese seemed to me to be slightly ambivalent. Saw the two-part version.

Can't stand Woody Allen

Woody Allen: a circlejerk. Somehow these things are getting to be more standard.

Woody Allen for dummies. Not particularly insightful but nonetheless entertaining review of the subject's carreer.

A review.

Entirely watchable, but it never really gets to the bottom of what makes him tick, and merely reinforces the suspicion that he is more of a superficial film maker than is often believed. It doesn't help that Allen often resists talking about his films at length, so in that sense he is a difficult subject, especially for an in-depth documentary, but the film doesn't even offer much close analysis of his work to compensate for the lack of personal reflection.

[1 part only, can't remember if it was 1 or 2] Hanging out, cut & pasting scripts -literally- and jamming on clarinet was fun. I really ought to watch some of his films then catch the whole thing.

Pretty good. Nice interviews, and touches on a lot of the highs and lows, and what makes him so unique.

this was a great documentary, and gave me fantastic insight into woody allen both as a filmmaker and a person. it was very refreshing to see his attitude towards filmmaking and his art.

It is what it is. Standard PBS documentary that's good if you're an Allen fan but unambitious in pretty much every way. I liked the bit about all his little scraps of paper he writes ideas on.

Excellent synopsis of Woody Allen and his career's work.

Utterly unambitious documentary.

I didn't want this film to end soooooooooooooooo much...

Very informative and interesting for everyone who is a fan of Allen's movies. Might look boring for a person who haven't seen any of his movies before.

a pretty straight forward documentary, but nothing's wrong with that. it's cool to see that woody is a normal, down to earth guy. (who happens to be into younger girls.)

Also known as 'Everybody Loves Woody'. I'm in that camp, so it's okay, but I was hoping for more of an in-depth coverage of his career for something clocking in over three hours long. In retrospect, that's probably asking too much considering the vast amount of work he's done.

The first part is great and detailed. The second part skips controversial issues way too easy and doesn't even mention flaws like Hollywood Ending, Cassandra's Dream etc. In other words - entertaining and completely safe.

The long version!

Watch it if you like Woody Allen, don't if you don't. It's pretty easy to tell if you're going to like it.

An unexpected disappointment. Though it was nice to revisit hilarious moments from the early films (like the body search in Take The Money And Run) the overall feel of the movie seemed rushed and unfocused. At times, the awkward transition effects between scenes made it look like a power point show - which doesn't seem befitting when dealing with one the world's best directors (even if he's not known for his cinematography per se). Argh, not good enough. What a shame.

Biographical documentaries are somewhat impossible to enjoy unless you really respect and enjoy to works of the subject. I don't know how Weide could have made this any better. It just is the way it is.

Solid overview of Woody's career. A great watch if you're a fan.

It's pretty easy to know if you will like this or not. If you are a fan of Allen's work or at least find his ideas interesting then you will more than likely enjoy this documentary. If not it's too long to waste your time with.